Friday, August 17, 2007

Scary Grey Area!

For the past week now, I've been trying to think about topics I could write about for the column I am going to be writing, once a month, beginning in September. You know, kind of jog the old brain cells a bit - that fuzzy, foggy grey matter that sits (supposedly) somewhere behind my eyes and between my ears.

But more so, I've been trying to think of how to go about "introducing" myself in my first column.

Yesterday, while driving up to the local grocery store, I had that theme running through my mind - kind of like a broken record, ya know. And this time though, I was really on a roll with it. Oh my yes! I was just a-rockin' away there while I drove. Heck, by the time I got to the store, I practically had my first column all mapped out, ready to put together as soon as I got back home and settled back in at the old trusty keyboard.

I guess the key word here though would be "Had" because don't 'cha just know it though by the time I got home, got the grocery purchases put away, read the daily paper and then, turned to the computer and the keyboard, all those pretty words and sentences I had thought up while driving had gone on a little drive of their own. Apparently they'd actually decided maybe to go on a long-haul type trip like my son is on this week. He's enroute to Phoenix as I type this and I'm thinking, since I have yet to be able to retrieve any of those lovely words, the scintillating little piece I had working in my mind, that they've somehow hopped about the big truck and are maybe even on their way on a trip around the world or some such because it might take that long before any of those thoughts pop back into my head again.

This is so darned frustrating when crap like that happens! I really need either a little tape recorder to carry with me at all times so when these flashes of brilliance come through, I can immediately record them and then come home, transcribe and edit these things and presto magic, I'd have many little columns all done up and with so much ease too.

Or, maybe I should just invest in a lap top to cart with me all the time too. Then, I could just pull off the road perhaps, type it right in then and there and eliminate the middle steps of recording and transcribing those thoughts. Somehow though, considering this is a gratis venture, I can't see any way to justify purchasing either a little recorder much less the laptop, can you?

And who knows, maybe when these nifty, really great thoughts and sentences begin to form in my mind, just possibly the gray matter -with all the fog and cobwebs there from lack of use - is what is scary them off into oblivion.

I think the tape recorder is the best idea. You might need a hand held for when you are walking and a battery one for in the car as really shouldn't drive and be holding a recorder that is as bad or worse than using a mobile phone. Unless you keep pulling over.

Try carrying a little notebook and jot things down as soon as you can. Phone yourself and leave a message. I use keywords on a piece of paper, admittedly this doesn't help me recall that certain phrase, but it does keep me on track a bit. I also have started an ideas page for the blog which would work for you too. Anytime I think of something I would like to write about and if I find a link I will pop it on that page and I can come back to it at leasure.

You can do this Jeni, don't make excuses for yourself, that is lack of confidence speaking. They would not have asked you to do it if they felt you couldn't.

About Me

Graduate of Penn State so I am a Nittany Lioness I guess. Divorced, raised 3 kids to 3 pretty doggone great adults and now I have Alex, Maya and Kurtis to watch them grow and marvel at how such gorgeous little creatures have a link back to this old soul.